Lateral Knee pain-HELP
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trappo
Question:
Asked by trappo - 4 answers - 1 year 34 weeks ago
Lateral Knee pain-HELP
I am a competitive rower (female) and have just had to take a summer off due to lateral knee pain that is just constantly there. I have been to 5 different specialists and they have all said different things, x-rays and MRI scans have not shown anything. I suspected it was my training load that was irritating it so I cut back but it still got worse. At the moment I am working on strengthening the glutes but the pain is just not subsiding! Squats and leg press cause pain so I can't do them but these exercises are vital for my training, I am good for about 4k on the water or erg before the pain kicks in. I have alot of scar tissue where the ITB joins the patella and this is where the majority of the pain is however the physio was lost when i said i haven't had any hard knocks or anything in that area. The pain has now spread to the other knee but not to the same extent and I am getting pain in the medial knee now too. Before I had to stop training I was on track to pull a sub 7min 2k and was aiming for a national team trial. Any suggestions would be great! I'm willing to try anything!
sldc
It sounds to me that you have a bad ITB problem, which is probably as result of chronic overuse where adhesions/scar tissue have developed in the ITB and lateral quadriceps. There may also some lower back and pelvis problems. Its good that the MRI and X-rays have come back negative
Not sure what specialists you have seen, but my suggestion is that you try active release technique,its very good for the treatment of soft tissue injuries.
(http://www.activerelease.com/providerSearch.asp?searchType=city&intCountryId=6&intStateId=102&strCity=),the link will show you the pracitioners in the uk,failing that you can e-mail active release and they will let you know the nearest person to you as not all providers are listed on the website.
You can find an article on ITB syndrome @ http://itbs-online.blogspot.com/, its written by one of the ART instructors.
Please let me know the outcome.
Good Luck
bolbjerg
I would also recommend that you find a good Active Release Techniques provider. They can relieve this lateral tightness really efficientliy.
However, to help the problem stay away, you should also check to see if your VMO is undertoned. If so, this imbalance will probably keep pulling your knee cap laterally, causing lateral pain. To strengthen the VMO I find that the reverse step up works really well:
Stand in front of a step with your back facing the step. Place one foot back up onto the step. Shift your hips back over that foot. Then extend the leg, so as to lift you up onto the step, balancing only on the toes of the step up foot and with out pushing off with the foot that's on the floor. You can progress through higher steps and using dumbells.
anne28
Great advice for me too... thanks! I'm going through the same thing.
trappo
thank you for your advice, i had never heard of active release before! There is one active release practitioner listed in New Zealand so hopefully they can help me out. I'll let you know the results